There are several ways that mail pieces can be marked to evidence payment of postage for delivery of the mail piece. A mail piece could include, for example, letters, magazines, postcards, packages, parcels, etc. For example, a stamp could be applied to the mail piece, or a mailing machine could be used to print a postage meter indicium on the mail piece or a label applied to the mail piece. With the proliferation of communications networks, e.g., the Internet, it is also possible to print an indicium, either directly on the mail piece or on a label that is affixed to the mail piece, that evidences payment of postage using a personal computer coupled to the Internet and a general purpose printer coupled to the computer.
Regardless of which method is utilized to evidence payment of postage, a verification system is provided to ensure that the payment evidence is both authentic, i.e., not a counterfeit, and original, i.e., not a duplicate. For example, stamps are cancelled by a postal mark, thereby preventing them from being reused. Postal meter indicia includes a two-dimensional (2D) barcode and certain human-readable information. Some of the data included in the barcode could include, for example, the meter manufacturer identification, meter model identification, meter serial number, values for the ascending and descending registers of the meter, postage amount, and date of mailing. In addition, a digital signature may be required to be created by the meter for each mail piece and placed in the digital signature field of the barcode. Verification of the signature provides authentication of an indicium, while other portions of the included data can help detect duplicate indicia.
In some forms of postage, fraud detection is performed utilizing a confirmation number applied to each mail piece, along with an indicium, that uniquely identifies each mail piece for which postage has been paid. Upon delivery of the mail piece, the letter carrier, i.e., delivery person or “postman,” that is delivering the mail piece is required to scan the confirmation number, and the data is stored in a central database. Thus, in theory, if a confirmation number is scanned more than once, it is an indication that the same confirmation number has been improperly utilized more than once, thereby attempting to defraud the delivery service of payment for the second mail piece.
Fraud detection mechanisms work well if the data collection methods are consistent enough to provide accurate data. For example, fraud detection mechanisms utilized for credit cards, phone cards, and cellular telephones rely on the accuracy of data to allow fraud detection decisions to be made based upon simple rules. For example, a large increase in the frequency of purchases or calls may indicate a stolen credit card or phone card. Similarly, transactions that occur within a short time period spread over large geographic distances may also indicate fraud. Such fraud detection mechanisms, however, assume the data is correct and base decisions upon that assumption. This is largely due to the fact that there is a closed loop between the payer and the service provider/biller. Thus, if a transaction was processed, e.g., purchase with a credit card, call made using a phone card or cellular telephone, the data with respect to that transaction is “hard” data, i.e., each transaction is typically unique and has actually occurred.
Unfortunately, the data collected from the scanning system for the mail piece delivery fraud detection system described above is inconsistent and therefore may not be completely accurate, thereby leading to erroneous decisions about fraudulent use of confirmation numbers for delivery of mail pieces. For example, failure by the letter carrier to scan the confirmation number will completely negate the fraud detection mechanism; therefore, it is imperative that the letter carrier scans the confirmation number upon delivery of the mail piece. To ensure this, most delivery services will discipline letter carriers if the confirmation numbers are not scanned. As a result, some letter carriers will scan the confirmation number on a mail piece multiple times to ensure that it has been scanned properly. These multiple scans may occur within a short period of time, e.g., in rapid succession when a mail piece is delivered, or over a longer period of time, e.g., prior to leaving a central facility to deliver the mail pieces and at the actual time of delivery. Thus, multiple scans may be recorded for the same mail piece. Another situation that can result in multiple scans for the same mail piece occurs if the letter carrier scans the mail piece and then can not actually deliver the mail piece, thereby requiring multiple delivery attempts. For example, if the letter carrier scans the mail piece upon approaching the intended recipient's door, and the intended recipient is not at home to accept the mail piece, the letter carrier must make a second delivery attempt. When the mail piece is delivered the next day, it may again be scanned, resulting in multiple scans of the same mail piece. This inconsistency of the data collection makes the data difficult to use for fraud detection. For example, two delivery scans of a confirmation number within a short period of time could indicate either (i) the label including the confirmation number and associated indicium has been copied, and two mail pieces have been sent using the same confirmation number and indicium (but only paid for once), or (ii) the letter carrier scanned the confirmation number on the same mail piece twice. Similarly, two scans of a confirmation number separated by some time period could indicate either (i) a copied confirmation number was fraudulently used, or (ii) more than one attempt was made to deliver the mail piece. Duplicate data may be, therefore, the result of either improper system operation or fraudulent activity.
Thus, if each time a confirmation number was scanned more than once resulted in a determination of possible fraudulent activity, a large number of unnecessary fraud investigations would occur. To reduce the number of fraud investigations based on multiple scans of the same confirmation number, current fraud detection mechanisms only make a decision of potentially fraudulent activity if a high number, such as, for example, five or more, of delivery scans occur for the same confirmation number. This solution, however, has inherent problems in that it may not detect actual fraudulent activity. For example, the confirmation numbers can be copied one, two, three or even four times and reused to send multiple mail pieces to different locations, while only paying for delivery of a single mail piece. As a result, the potential for large scale fraud to be committed without fear of being detected exists.
Thus, there exists a need for a fraud detection mechanism that is adapted for inconsistent data collection.